LAMB, JOHN C., proprietor of the Aetna Iron Works, corner Second and Adams streets, was born in Randolph county Illinois, 1825. His father, James L. Lamb, was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and settled in the old town of Kaskaskia, Illinois, about 1822. He married Susan H. Cranmer, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1824. They were the parents of five daughters and the subject of this sketch; one daughter deceased. They moved to Springfield in 1831, where Mr. Lamb engaged in pork packing, extensively, and in merchandising until he died in the fall of 1873, John C. being associated with him in conducting business. In 1848, Mr. J. C. Lamb became a partner in the firm of Lowry, Lamb & Co., in the Aetna Foundry and Machine Works. In 1853 the firm was dissolved by the death of one of the partners, and in 1855, Mr. Lamb bought the entire concern and has since been sole proprietor. He does a large business in the manufacture of railroad work, mill machinery and steam engines, employing an average of sixty men.